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Heinrich Hertz Fellowship in History and Philosophy of Physics, Bonn, Germany

The Heinrich Hertz Fellowship in History and Philosophy of physics is designed to allow PhD students and early-career scholars to spend 3 months, 6 months or an entire academic year (9 months) at the University of Bonn to work on any topic in history and philosophy of physics; though a focus of the group in Bonn for the next decade will be the history and philosophy of gravitational physics, especially since the 1950s. Thus, gravitational physicists who would like to try out history and philosophy of physics, whether to work on the foundations of Einstein’s approach to GR, the singularity theorems, or the discovery and interpretation of recent LIGO data, to name just a few possibilities, are very much encouraged to apply. Fellows have no formal duties apart apart from following their own research agenda and interacting with the other historians and philosophers of physics in Bonn. Hertz fellows are provided with:

– A (possibly shared) office at the Electoral Palace, which houses the Institute of Philosophy of the University of Bonn.

– A monthly stipend of 2500 Euros to cover accommodation and maintenance during the stay in Bonn. Stipends are not generally taxable in Germany. Fellows have to show that they have sufficient (travel) health insurance for their stay in Bonn.

– Reimbursements of some conference travel and similar expenses during the stay in Bonn.
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Starting times of the fellowships are flexible. However, the default would be to start on the 1st of October (beginning of the Winter Semester) or the 1st of April (beginning of the summer semester).